Wednesday, February 21, 2018

Sunday, June 21, 2009

June-Martyred English speaking Prisoner PriestsMartyred English speaking PriestsThe laws in all English speaking countries are derived from and many are still the laws that sentenced these priests and other faithful to the worst imprisonments and deaths.Please Help Prisoner Priests and others keep the faith while in Prison.http://groups.yahoo.com/group/help-prisoner-priests/

Bl. John Storey d. 1571 Feastday: June 1Martyr of England. A Doctor of Law, John studied at Oxford, was president of Broadgate Hall and a professor of law, and was an active Catholic in the reign of Queen Mary Tudor. Married about 1547, he entered Parliament and was vocal in his opposition to various anti-Catholic laws then being proposed by the governments of King Edward VI and Queen Elizabeth I. Arrested and imprisoned, he managed to escape but was captured by Elizabeth’s agents in Antwerp, returned for a trial, and executed at Tyburn.

Bl. Walter Pierson d. 1537 Feastday: June 6 Carthusian martyr of England. A member of the Carthusian Charterhouse of London, he served as a lay brother and was arrested with his companions by English authorities for opposing the religious policies of King Henry VIII (r. 1509-1547). With six other Carthusians, he was starved to death in prison.

Bl. John Davy d. 1537 Feastday: June 6 Carthusian martyr of England. A member of the Carthusian Charterhouse of London, he was an opponent of the Act of Supremacy of King Henry VIII. and was arrested and starved to death in Newgate Prison with six Carthusian companions. John was beatified in 1886.

Bl. Robert Salt d. 1537 Feastday: June 6 Carthusian martyr. Robert was a lay brother in the Carthusian community of London who, with six other members of the order, was starved to death at Newgate by order of King Henry VIII of England after they resisted his Dissolution of the Monasteries.

Bl. Thomas Green, Thomas Scryven, Thomas Reding 1537 A.D. Feastday: June 15English Carthusian martyrs. Thomas Green studied at St. John's College, Cambridge, entering the London Charterhouse of the Carthusians where he took vows and received ordination. Arrested for opposing King Henry VIII's (r. 1509-1547) claim of spiritual supremacy over the English Church, Thomas was imprisoned with two other Carthusians, the lay brothers Thomas Scryven and Thomas Reding, and four other companions. All were starved to death at Newgate. Bl.

William Greenwood 1537 A.D. Feastday: June 16Carthusian martyr of England. A lay brother in the Carthusian London Charterhouse, he was arrested for opposing the policies of King Henry VIII (r. 1509-1547) and starved to death in Newgate Prison with six companions.Bl. William Exmew d. 1535 Feastday: June 19 Carthusian martyr. An Englishman, he was educated at Cambridge and entered the Carthusians, eventually becoming sub-prior of the London Charterhouse. Owing to their refusal to accept the reforms of King Henry VIII (r. 1509-1547), William was executed with Blesseds Sebastian Newdigate and Humphrey Middlemore. They were beatified in 1886.

Bl. Sebastian Newdigate d.1535 Feastday: June 19Carthusian martyr of England. Born at Harefield, Middlesex, England, he studied at Cambridge and was married. His wife died in 1524 and he became a priest. Before entering the Carthusians in the London Charterhouse, he also served as King Henry VIII’s privy counselor. When Sebastian and fellow monks refused to accept the declaration of King Henry VIII’s Supremacy over the Church of England, they were arrested. Sebastian was executed at Tyburn on June 19 with Blesseds Humphrey Middlemore and William Exmew.

Bl. Humphrey Middlemore d.1535 Feastday: June 19Carthusian martyr of England. He was hanged at Tyburn with William Exmew and Sebastian Newdigate two monks of the London Charterhouse.

Bl. Thomas Woodhouse d 1573 Feastday: June 19 English martyr.A resident of Lincolnshire, he received ordination as a secular priest and took up a post there. Forced to resign from this post, he became a tutor in Wales. He was arrested in 1561 for celebrating a Mass and was sent to Fleet Prison. During the period of his incarceration, which lasted twelve years, he entered the Society of Jesus Thomas was tried in 1570. He was hanged at Tyburn.

Bl. John Fenwick & John Gavan d. 1679 Feastday June 20Jesuit Martyrs of England. John Fenwick was born in Durham and educated at Saint-Omer. He became a Jesuit in 1656. John Gavan was born in London and entered the Jesuits in 1660. They were involved in the Titus Qates Plot hysteria, falsely charged with complicity, and put to death at Tyburn with three Jesuit companions.

Bl. Anthony Turner d. 1679 Feastday June 20Martyr of England. The son of a Protestant minister, he was born in Leicestershire and educated at Cambridge. A convert to Catholicism, Anthony went to Rome and joined the Jesuits in Flanders and was ordained in 1661. He returned to England and labored in Worcester until he was arrested in the so-called Titus Oates affair. Convicted on perjured evidence, he was hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tyburn on June 20. Anthony was beatified in 1929.

Bl. William Harcourt d. 1679 Feastday June 20Jesuit martyr of England, also called William Barrows. Born in Lancashire in 1609, he studied at St. Omer, France, where in 1632 he became a Jesuit. Returning to England in 1645, he labored in London on behalf of the Catholic mission for more than thirty years. Condemned falsely for complicity in the so-called Popish Plot, he was executed at Tyburn with five other Jesuits, He was beatified in 1929.

Bl. Thomas Whitbread d. 1679 Feastday June 20English Jesuit and martyr. A native of Essex, England, he studied at St. Omer, France, and entered the Jesuits in 1635. Back in England and using the alias Thomas Harcourt, he served as provincial of the Jesuit mission until his arrest on the entirely false charges of complicity in the Popish Plot. Thomas was tried for sheltering the plotters and was convicted of the charge of attempting to murder the king. He was hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tyburn.

St. John Rigby d. 1600 Feastday June 21Martyr of England, a lay­man executed at Southwark. He was born near Wigan, England, and was reconciled to the Church. Admitting that he was a Catholic, he was arrested and placed in Newgate Prison. He was hanged, drawn, and quartered at Southwark on June 21. John is one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales and was canonized in 1970 by Pope Paul VI.

St Thomas More d. 1535 Feastday June 22 Martyr (Patron of Lawyers) St. Thomas More was born at London in 1478. In 1534, with his close friend, St. John Fisher, he refused to render allegiance to the King as the Head of the Church of England and was confined to the Tower. Fifteen months later, and nine days after St. John Fisher's execution, he was tried and convicted of treason. He told the court that he could not go against his conscience and wished his judges that "we may yet hereafter in heaven merrily all meet together to everlasting salvation." And on the scaffold, he told the crowd of spectators that he was dying as "the King's good servant-but God's first." He was beheaded on July 6, 1535. .

St. John Fisher Feastday June 22 John was born in Beverly, Yorkshire, in 1459, and educated at Cambridge, from which he received his Master of Arts degree in 1491. He occupied the vicarage of Northallerton, 1491-1494; then he became proctor of Cambridge University. In 1497, he was appointed confessor to Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII, and became closely associated in her endowments to Cambridge; he created scholarships, introduced Greek and Hebrew into the curriculum, and brought in the world-famous Erasmus as professor of Divinity and Greek. In 1504, he became Bishop of Rochester and Chancellor of Cambridge, in which capacity he also tutored Prince Henry who was to become Henry VIII. St. John was dedicated to the welfare of his diocese and his university.From 1527, this humble servant of God actively opposed the King's divorce proceedings against Catherine, his wife in the sight of God, and steadfastly resisted the encroachment of Henry on the Church. Unlike some of the other Bishops of the realm, St. John refused to take the oath of succession which acknowledged the issue of Henry and Anne as the legitimate heir to the throne, and he was imprisoned in the tower in April 1534. The next year he was made a Cardinal by Paul III and Henry retaliated by having him beheaded within a month.

St. Thomas Garnet d. 1608 Feastday June 23English Jesuit martyr. A nephew of the Jesuit Henry Garnet, he was born in Southwark, England, and studied for the priesthood at St. Omer, France, and Valladolid, Spain. Initially ordained as a secular priest, he joined the Jesuits in 1604 and worked to advance the Catholic cause in Warwick until his arrest in 1606. He was exiled after months of torture but returned in 1607 and was soon arrested. He was hanged at Tyburn. Beatified in 1929, he was canonized in 1970 and is included among the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.

St. John Southworth d. 1654 Feastday June 28One of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. He was born in Lancashire and became a priest in 1619 in Douai. Sent to England that same year, he was arrested but released through the intercession of Queen Henrietta Maria. He joined St. Henry Morse, subsequently working diligently during the plague of 1636. Arrested again, he was martyred by being hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tybum. His relics are in Westminster Cathedral in London, discovered there in 1927. Pope Paul VI canonized him in 1970.

Bl. Philip Powell d. 1594-1646 Feastday June 29Benedictine English martyr. Born in the Gwent district, southeast Wales, or at Tralon, England, he was educated in London and then entered the Benedictines in Douni in 1614. Ordained in 1621, he was sent to assist the English mission and spent two decades in the area of Devon, Somerset, and Cornwall before being arrested. He also served as a chaplain in the Civil War. Philip was executed at Tyburn by being hanged, drawn, and quartered; he was beatified in 1929.

Martyred English speaking PriestsThe laws in all English speaking countries are derived from and many are still the laws that sentenced these priests and other faithful to the worst imprisonments and deaths.Please Help Prisoner Priests and others keep the faith while in Prison.

Friday, May 29, 2009

Bl. Margaret PoleFeastday May 28Martyr of England. She was born Margaret Plantagenet, the niece of Edward IV and Rich­ard III. She married Sir Reginald Pole about 1491 and bore five sons, including Reginald Cardinal Pole. Margaret was widowed, named countess of Salisbury, and appointed governess to Princess Mary, daughter of Hemy VIII and Queen Catherine of Aragon, Spain.

She opposed Henry’s mar­riage to Anne Boleyn, and the king exiled her from court, although he called her “the holiest woman in England.”

When her son, Cardinal Pole, denied Henry’s Act of Supremacy, the king imprisoned Margaret in the Tower of London for two years and then beheaded her on May 28.

In 1538, her other two sons were executed.

She was never given a legal trial.

She was seventy when she was martyred.

Margaret was beatified in 1886.

Bl. John ShertFeastday: May 28 1582 English martyr. He was born at Shert Hall, near Macclesfield, Cheshire, and educated at Oxford. Converting to the Church, John studied at Douai and Rome. Ordained in 1576, he went to England three years later, working only two years before his arrest.

John was martyred at Tyburn with Blessed Thomas Ford and Blessed Robert Johnstone by being hinged, drawn, and quartered. Pope Leo XIII beatified him in 1886.

Bl. Thomas Ford Feastday:May 28 1582 Martyr of England. He was born in Devon and educated at Oxford. There he converted and set out for Douai, France. Ordained a priest in 1573, he was sent back to England three years later. Thomas labored in Oxfordshire and Berckshire until his arrest. He was martyred on May 28 at Tyburn by being hanged, drawn, and quartered. He was a companion of St. Edmund Campion, and he died with Blesseds Robert Johnson and John Shert. Thomas was beatified in 1882.

Bl. Robert Johnson Feastday: May 28 1582 English martyr. Born in Shropshire, England, he was a servant before he went to study at Rome and Douai, France, receiving ordination in 1576. Returning to the English mission, he served in the area of London for four years, until his arrest. Robert was hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tyburn with Blesseds Thomas Ford and John Short. Robert was beatified in 1886.

Bl. Richard ThirkeldFeastday: May 291349 English martyr, also listed as Thirkild. Born in Durham, England, he studied at Oxford and was said to be quite old when he left the isle to receive preparation for the priesthood at Reims and Douai, France. Ordained in 1579, he went back to England and served the Catholics in the area around Yorkshire until his execution for being a priest on May 29 at York

Bl. William FilbyFeastday: May 301582Martyr of England. Born in Oxfordshire, he studied at Oxford. After graduation, William was converted to Catholicism and went to Reims, France, where he received ordination as a priest in 1581. He returned to England immediately and was arrested with St. Edmund Campion. William was executed at Tyburn with three companions on May 30. He was beatified in 1886.

Bl. Thomas CottamFeastday:May 301582English martyr. Born at Dilworth, Lancashire, England, in 1549, he was raised as a Protestant and studied at Oxford University before undergoing a conversion to Catholicism. Leaving England to prepare for ordination at Douai and Rome, he was ordained and joined the Jesuits. going home in 1580. Arrested at his landing at Dover, he was taken to the Tower of London and eventually hanged, drawn, and quartered with three companions

Bl. Lawrence RichardsonFeastday: May 301582Martyr of England. He was born in Great Crosby, Lancashire, England, and was educated at Oxford. Converting to the faith, Lawrence went to Douai, France, and was ordained in 1577. He returned to Lancashire and worked there until his martyrdom at Tyburn. He was beatified in 1886.

Bl. Richard NewportFeastday: May 301612 English martyr, also called Richard Smith. Born at Harringworth, Nothamptonshire, England, he studied in Rome and was ordained in 1597. Returning to England, he worked in London for a number of years before being arrested and banished twice, but he returned each time. His third arrest was with Blessed William Scott. Both were hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tybum for being Catholic priests

St. Luke KirbyFeastday: May 301582One of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. Probably educated at Cambridge, England, he converted and studied in Rome and in Douai, France. In 1580, he returned to England, only to be arrested two years later. Luke was imprisoned in the Tower of London and subjected to the infamous device “Scavenger’s Daughter.” a hideous form of torture. He was then martyred at Tyburn.

Bl. Maurus ScottFeastday: May 301612Benedictine martyr of England. Bom William Scott in Chigwell, Essex, England, he studied law at Cambridge, where he became a Catholic. Maurus was converted by Blessed John Roberts, the Benedictine, and was sent to Sahagun, in Spain, to St. Facundus Benedictine Abbey He was ordained there, taking the name Maurus. When he returned to England he was arrested, imprisoned for a year, and then banished. He returned again and again, being exiled each time. Finally, he was hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tyburn on May 30 with Blessed Richard Newport. They were beatified in 1929.

To be Hanged, Drawn, and Quartered

This was the ultimate punishment available in English law for men who had been convicted of High Treason. Women were burned at the stake instead, apparently for the sake of decency.

The full sentence passed upon those convicted of High Treason up to 1870 was as follows :

That you be drawn on a hurdle to the place of execution where you shall be hanged by the neck and being alive cut down, your privy members shall be cut off and your bowels taken out and burned before you, your head severed from your body and your body divided into four quarters to be disposed of at the King’s pleasure.”

So not for the feint hearted then!!

As you will see from the sentence it should properly be called drawing, hanging and quartering as the condemned was drawn to the place of execution tied to the hurdle which was dragged by a horse.

This is confirmed by contemporary law books.

Drawing does not refer to the removal of the intestines in this context and remained part of the sentence for High Treason long after the disembowelling and dismemberment had ceased.

The hurdle was similar to a piece of fencing made from thin branches interwoven to form a panel to which the prisoner was tied to be dragged behind a horse to the place of execution.

Once there, the prisoner(s) were hanged in the normal way (i.e. without a drop to ensure that the neck was not broken) but cut down whilst still conscious.

The penis and testicles were cut off and the stomach was slit open.

The intestines and heart were removed and burned before them.

The other organs were torn out and finally the head was cut off and the body divided into four quarters.

The head and quarters were parboiled to prevent them rotting too quickly and then displayed upon the city gates as a grim warning to all.

At some point in this agonising process the prisoner inevitably died of strangulation and/or haemorrhage and/or shock and damage to vital organs.

Monday, May 4, 2009

Bl. Martyrs of the Carthusian OrderFeastday: May 41535Eighteen Carthusian monks who were martyred in England during the reign of King Henry VIII . They opposed the king's break with Rome and his program for the English Reformation, including the suppression of the monasteries. They were beatified in 1886.

Martyrs of EnglandFeastday: May 4A group of Blessed Catholics from England who were martyrs for the faith in the British Isles. They are to be differentiated from the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. Fifty-four were beatified in 1886; nine were beatified in 1895; and 137 more received beatification in 1929.

Friday, May 1, 2009

Bl. Francis Dickenson 1590 A.D.English martyr. He was born in Yorkshire, England, and was a convert to the Church. After being ordained at Reims, France, in 1589, he returned to England and was promptly arrested. Francis was hanged, drawn, and quartered at Rochester.

St. Gerard Miles 1590 A.D. Martyr of England with Blessed Francis Dickinson. He was born in Lancashire, England, and went to Douai and Reims where he was ordained in 1583. Returning from England, he was arrested when the ship that he and Francis were using wrecked at Kent. They were arrested and hanged, drawn, and quartered at Rochester in April. They were beatified in 1929.He was beatified in 1929.

Toleration and tolerance are terms used in social, cultural and religious contexts to describe attitudes which are "tolerant" (or moderately respectful) of practices or group memberships that may be disapproved of by those in the majority.

In practice, "tolerance" indicates support for practices that prohibit ethnic and religious discrimination.

Conversely, 'intolerance' may be used to refer to the discriminatory practices sought to be prohibited.

Though developed to refer to the religious toleration of minority religious sects following the Protestant Reformation, these terms are increasingly used to refer to a wider range of tolerated practices and groups, or of political parties or ideas widely considered objectionable.

The concept of toleration is controversial. For one, "toleration" does not raise the level of an actual principle or ethic, such as other concepts (respect, reciprocity, love) do.

Liberal critics may see in it an inappropriate implication that the "tolerated" custom or behavior is an aberration or that authorities have a right to punish difference; such critics may instead emphasise notions such as civility, pluralism, or respect.

Other critics may regard a narrow definition of 'tolerance' as more useful, since it does not require a false expression of enthusiasm for groups or practices which are genuinely disapproved of.

Though developed to refer to the religious toleration of minority religious sects following the Protestant Reformation, the terms "toleration" and "tolerance" are increasingly used to refer to a wider range of tolerated practices and groups, such as the toleration of sexual practices and orientations, or of political parties or ideas widely considered objectionable.

Changing applications and understandings of the term can sometimes make debate on the question difficult.

For example, a distinction is sometimes drawn between mere "Toleration" and a higher notion of "Religious Liberty":Some philosophers [. . .] regard toleration and religious freedom as quite distinct things and emphasize the differences between the two. They understand toleration to signify no more than forbearance and the permission given by the adherents of a dominant religion for other religions to exist, even though the latter are looked upon with disapproval as inferior, mistaken, or harmful.

In contrast these thinkers recognize religious liberty as as the recognition of equal freedom for all religions and denominations without any kind of discrimination among them [. . .] in the case of religious liberty, no one is rightfully possessed of the power not to tolerate or to cancel this liberty.Discussions of toleration therefore often divided between those who view the term as a minimal and perhaps even historical virtue (perhaps today to be replaced by a more positive and robust appreciation of pluralism or diversity), and those who view it as a concept with an important continuing vitality, and who are more likely to use the term in considering contemporary issues regarding discrimination on the basis of race, nationality, gender, sexuality, disability, and other reasons.

There are also debates with regard to the historical factors that produced the principle of toleration, as well as to the proper reasons toleration should be exercised, with some arguing that the growth of skepticism was an important or necessary factor in the development of toleration, and others arguing that religious belief or an evolving notion of respect for individual persons was or is the basis on which toleration was or should be practiced.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tolerance

tolerateVerb[-ating, -ated]1. to allow something to exist or happen, even although one does not approve of it: you must learn to tolerate opinions other than your own2. to put up with (someone or something): he found the pain hard to tolerate [Latin tolerare to sustain]toleration nCollins Essential English Dictionary 2nd Edition 2006

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

1586 A.D. Martyr of England.A native of Lancashire, he studied at Oxford and then departed the island for Reims, France, where he was ordained in 1585 with Blessed Robert Anderson. They were sent to England but were forced to land on the Isle of Wight in a storm. They were arrested, and then condemned and hanged on April 25 on Wight. Both were beatified in 1929, and share the feast.